The Professional Football League is already reviewing its plans. In the summer of 2025, the LFP launched its Ligue 1+ channel to broadcast championship matches, the final solution found at the end of the endless TV rights crisis which has undermined French football for several years. Presented at the time as a European novelty destined to make waves, Ligue 1+ could cut the signal next summer. Indeed, the LFP is considering putting Ligue 1 TV rights back on the market, and will launch a call for tenders in November to do so.
A year and a half after the debut of Ligue 1+, this decision is striking. "Managers can say that it is a success to have created the channel if it is then resold to a distributor, but it is barely a year old, so its value is low, and this decision is surprising. The creation of the channel was already suffered, let's not forget, but the channel could have been used to recreate value around Ligue 1, to, in the medium term, resell the platform or the rights more expensive. However, after a year, it's early", explains Antoine. Feuillet, lecturer at Paris-Saclay University, specialist in TV rights.
Wind of panic or market test?
"We can read this decision in two ways. The reassuring reading says that the Ligue 1+ experiment is working well, so the LFP wants to test the market, because it is open to any opportunity to improve the clubs' TV rights revenues," says Pierre Maes, TV rights specialist, "The other reading focuses more on the price of the subscription which has increased, the number of subscribers which is plateauing, piracy which is growing. Which means that the nervousness is palpable. Moreover, the clubs have been considering a call for tenders for 2029-2034 for a while, and there we are talking about a call for tenders brought forward to next season, which tends to make credible this second reading which says that there is panic."
“Bringing forward the date of the call for tenders suggests that there is fire in the lake, or at least a wave of panic.”
Pierre Maes
at franceinfo: sport
“It’s a sign of weakness, not necessarily failure, but it shows that Ligue 1+ does not bring enough income to the clubs,” agrees Antoine Feuillet, who recalls that from the income derived from the number of subscribers, it is necessary to subtract the annual production costs of the channel and the share which goes to the CVC investment fund, which owns 13% of LFP Media.
"When the channel was launched, the prices were cut, with subscriptions that can be shared between two households. Since then, they have tried to transform public success into commercial and financial success. Because LFP Media has thought big with Ligue 1+, which is a premium product like Canal+ which broadcasts 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. Instead of the clubs we could want a much simpler product with simply the broadcast of the matches, which would reduce the production envelope and would replenish those of the clubs", summarizes Pierre Maes.
“We are masters of our destiny”, we repeat on the LFP side. Announced Tuesday October 6 to the LFP board of directors, this new call for tenders intends to "test the market, several players of which have demonstrated signs of interest in these rights", assures a source close to the matter. In the League offices, we insist: this new call for tenders will not necessarily result in a “transfer of rights, an offer will only be accepted if it corresponds to the strategic projection of Ligue 1”. In other words: if no one pays the price, the LFP will continue to finance Ligue 1+ itself, which costs it around sixty million euros per year.
Very tight timing
The LFP believes that "Ligue 1+ has changed the balance of power between the LFP and the channels", adds this same source, recalling in passing that the law now allows all matches to be sold in a single batch. “It’s a good argument, it’s good for the potential distributor and the consumer,” recognizes Antoine Feuillet, who is however concerned about another potential legislative novelty: the increase in VAT to 20% (compared to 10% today) for pay channels. “This increase in VAT would necessarily influence Canal+’s potential interest in this call for tenders. If the LFP’s idea was to bring Canal back, the timing is really not ideal,” notes Antoine Feuillet.
“When you decide to make a call for tenders when the previous two were resounding failures, either you have assurances from the market, or you have no other choice. And I don’t see what assurances they had,” asks Pierre Maes, “The only platform that tried something in France is Amazon, which has since folded. Disney+ is moving a little, but on very inexpensive purchases.”
The LFP's room for maneuver is therefore tight, especially as the body is launching this new call for tenders for entry into application from next season. We must therefore act quickly, to stay on target with contracts, and resolve this subject before the end of the year. To optimize its chances, the LFP leaves the choice to interested distributors: pay the raw TV rights, or pay to broadcast Ligue 1+. Which makes Antoine Feuillet say that “the LFP has nothing to lose because it can keep the chain and build its value in the medium term, if the auctions are not satisfactory”.
The lecturer concludes: "If the LFP is launching this call for tenders, it is because it has received feedback from interested distributors, with prospects of higher income than the current ones, which are around 140 million euros to be shared for the clubs. And, at worst, with Ligue 1+, the LFP has an emergency solution already in place. But this call for tenders is a sign that the clubs are in dire straits and consider that the current income is not enough."
